The present invention relates to a system for routing multiple sensors through a predefined area and, more particularly, to a system for scanning a target portion of the predefined area utilizing multiple sensors and coordinating the progress of the sensors through the predefined area.
Various operations are becoming increasingly dependent on intelligent systems to guide the planning and execution of critical mission tasks. Planning missions by hand, or by large, ground-based computer systems is rapidly becoming obsolete in a world in which rapid access to information is almost as important as physical capability. One of the critical planning tasks involves the real-time route and sensor planning for a variety of mission scenarios. The missions may be military or civil and take place on land, sea or in the air. Developing algorithms and architectures to solve these problems is a rapidly growing area of interest. Once a large enough portion of an area has been scanned by one or more sensor equipped entities, other entities may safely enter the area and perform their various functions.
One of the main components of such planning operations involves the development of accurate and efficient route and sensor planning algorithms for a team comprising various team members. Most of the current research in this area focuses on the routing of a single entity between two stationary locations. In the real-world, situations are dynamic and the planning and replanning of such operations is generally considered the most critical part of a mission. If mission doctrine permits communication between the team members, then one approach is to do planning at a single location using intelligent software agents to achieve appropriate coordination.
Such planning operations include, but are certainly not limited to, reconnaissance and surveillance operations, coordinated attack patterns, coordinated team progression, traveling and bounding overwatch, and target handoff. These operations are needed for a variety of operational platforms including air, naval, ground, and various tactical combinations of all three.
Finding solutions to these team coordination problems is very difficult and can determine the difference between success and failure of the mission. It is unlikely that there will be expedient solutions for this class of problems. Thus, heuristic approaches are used to generate efficient solutions in real-time that are as good or better than a human could generate. Only limited research has been conducted for solving these types of problems. Not just limited to military and civil applications, team planning operations may be critical for commercial autonomous robotics as well as outer space related applications, commercial avionics, and intelligent transportation systems. As part of this area, it is also important to consider the task of real-time coordination and plan adjustment in the execution of distributed mission plans across heterogeneous platforms.
In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, a method routes a plurality of entities through a predetermined area. The method includes the steps of: providing a plan; providing a deterministic method for computing the plan for the plurality of entities, the plan including a plurality of routes and sets of scan points for each of the entities; and performing the method by each of the plurality of entities independently from the other of the plurality of entities.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, a system routes a plurality of entities through a predetermined area and for scanning the predetermined area. The system includes a plan for a plurality of entities, the plan including a plurality of routes and sets of scan points for each of the entities; a deterministic method for computing the plan; and a plurality of devices corresponding to each of the entities, the devices each performing routing and scanning operations independently from the other of the plurality of entities.
In accordance with still another aspect of the present invention, a computer program product determines a route for each of a plurality of entities through a predetermined area and analyzes the content of the predetermined area. The product includes a first instruction for implementing a deterministic method for computing a plan for each of the plurality of entities, the plan including a plurality of routes and sets of scan points for each of the entities; a second instruction for inputting the plan; and a third instruction for performing each of the first and second instructions by each of the plurality of entities independently from the other entities.